Friday, February 6, 2015

Top Safest Companies For 2014

The old adage of risk equaling reward couldn't be truer. It was 2008, and the stock market was in chaos.

 

Great rewards went to investors who took the risk of stepping into the fray to buy the lows. But during the same time, many investors were practically wiped out because they failed to manage their risks wisely in the highly volatile environment.

The stock market today isn't as volatile as it was during the financial crisis. However, the same investing maxim still holds: The greater the risk, the greater the rewards. 

Many investors shun risk. These risk-averse investors pile into the safest possible investments in an effort to preserve principal at all costs. This attitude will most likely preserve your portfolio, but it will also greatly decrease your potential for market-beating rewards. 

Top 10 Semiconductor Stocks To Buy Right Now: Grupo Casa Saba S.A. de C.V.(SAB)

Grupo Casa Saba, S.A.B. de C.V., through its subsidiaries, operates as a multi-channel and multi-product wholesale distributor primarily in Mexico. It distributes pharmaceutical products; health and beauty aids; publication products, such as magazines, books, albums, and stickers; food and non-perishable products; personal care and consumer goods; and general merchandise. The company also sells pharmaceutical products through its Farmacias ABC pharmacy chain located in Guadalajara, Jalisco; Farmacias Provee de Especialidades primarily located in Monterrey and Nuevo Leon of Mexico, as well as in the states of Chihuahua and Coahuila; and through Farmacias Benavides. In addition, it provides freight services to third parties. Further, it operates medical clinics; and offers specialized medical, rehabilitation, and surgical services, as well as provides real estate services. The company serves pharmacies, mass merchandisers, retail and convenience stores, specialty stores, sup ermarkets, and other specialized channels. As of December 31, 2010, it operated a distribution network consisting of 22 active distribution centers. It also operates in Brazil, Chile, and Peru. Grupo Casa Saba, S.A.B. de C.V. was founded in 1892 and is based in Mexico, Mexico.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Inyoung Hwang]

    U.K. stocks erased losses in the last half hour of trading, leaving the FTSE 100 Index (UKX) little changed, as a rally in British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSY) and SABMiller Plc (SAB) offset Dagong Global Credit Rating Co.�� downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt.

Top Safest Companies For 2014: Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. (WDR)

Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides investment management, investment product underwriting and distribution, and shareholder services administration to mutual funds, and institutional and separately managed accounts in the United States. The company acts as an investment adviser for institutional and other private investors, and provides sub advisory services to other investment companies; underwrites and distributes registered open-end mutual fund portfolios; distributes business partners� variable annuity products, and retirement and life insurance products to advisors channel customers; sells life insurance and disability products underwritten by various carriers; and offers fee-based asset allocation investment advisory products to advisors channel customers. It distributes investment products through independent financial advisors, broker/dealers, registered investment advisors, and various retirement platforms; and markets investment a dvisory services to institutional investors directly or through consultants. Waddell & Reed Financial, Inc. was founded in 1937 and is based in Overland Park, Kansas.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Marc Bastow]

    Investment services and shareholder services administrator Waddell & Reed (WDR) raised its quarterly dividend 21% to 34 cents per share, payable on Feb. 3 to shareholders of record as of Jan. 13.
    WDR Dividend Yield: 2.2%

  • [By Will Ashworth]

    With the future of asset managers clearly in the hands of ETFs, iShares��formidable market share suggests that Larry Fink and company have more good years ahead. When it comes to large-cap asset managers I see BLK stock as your best bet in 2014.

    Waddell & Reed (WDR)

    One of the oldest mutual fund companies in the U.S., Waddell & Reed (WDR) is still growing quarterly revenues and earnings by double digits. With $114 billion in assets under management, analysts expect WDR to report Q4 earnings of 78 cents on Feb. 4 — 28% higher year-over-year.

  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Mutual fund complex�Waddell & Reed Financial� (NYSE: WDR  ) announced today its third-quarter dividend of $0.28 per share, the same rate it's paid for the past two quarters after raising the payout 12% from $0.25 per share.

Top Safest Companies For 2014: Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP)

Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (ETP), incorporated on June 25, 1996, is a limited partnership in the United States engaged in natural gas operations. ETP is managed by its general partner, Energy Transfer Partners GP, L.P. (General Partner or ETP GP), and ETP GP is managed by its general partner, Energy Transfer Partners, L.L.C. (ETP LLC), which is owned by Energy Transfer Equity, L.P., another publicly traded master limited partnership (ETE). The activities in which the Company is engaged all of which are in the United States and the wholly owned operating subsidiaries (collectively the Operating Companies). The Company�� business segments are: intrastate transportation and storage; interstate transportation; midstream, and retail propane, Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) Transportation and Services Segment and other retail propane related operations. In January 2012, AmeriGas Partners, L.P. acquired propane operations (Heritage) of ETP. In October 2012, ETP and Sunoco, Inc. (Sunoco) announced the completion of the merger of a wholly owned subsidiary of ETP, with and into Sunoco, with Sunoco surviving the merger as a subsidiary of ETP. In October 2012, Summit Midstream Partners LP acquired ETC Canyon Pipeline, LLC from La Grange Acquisition, L.P., a wholly owned subsidiary of ETP. In April 2013, Energy Transfer Partners LP acquired the remaining 60% interest in ETP Holdco Corp. Effective December 20, 2013, Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (APUC) acquired the Massachusetts natural gas distribution utility assets of Southern Union Company, a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of ETP.

The Company�� natural gas operations includes natural gas midstream and intrastate transportation and storage through La Grange Acquisition, L.P., which conducts business under the assumed name of Energy Transfer Company (ETC OLP); and interstate natural gas transportation services through Energy Transfer Interstate Holdings, LLC (ET Interstate). ET Interstate is the parent company of Transwestern Pipeline Company! , LLC (Transwestern), ETC Fayetteville Express Pipeline, LLC (ETC FEP) and ETC Tiger Pipeline, LLC (ETC Tiger). NGL transportation, storage and fractionation services primarily through Lone Star NGL LLC (Lone Star). Retail propane through Heritage Operating, L.P. (HOLP) and Titan Energy Partners, L.P. (Titan), both of which were contributed to AmeriGas Partners, L.P. (AmeriGas).

Intrastate Transportation and Storage Segment

Through the Company�� intrastate transportation and storage segment, it owns and operates approximately 7,800 miles of natural gas transportation pipelines and three natural gas storage facilities located in the state of Texas. Through ETC OLP, it owns the intrastate pipeline system in the United States with interconnects to Texas markets and to major consumption areas throughout the United States. Its intrastate transportation and storage segment focuses on the transportation of natural gas to major markets from various prolific natural gas producing areas through connections with other pipeline systems, as well as through its Oasis pipeline, its East Texas pipeline, its natural gas pipeline and storage assets that are referred to as ET Fuel System, and its HPL System. The major customers on its intrastate pipelines include Natural Gas Exchange, Inc., EDF Trading North America, Inc., XTO Energy, Inc. and ConocoPhillips.

Interstate Transportation Segment

Through the Company�� interstate transportation segment, it owns and operates approximately 12,600 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline and has a 50% interest in the joint venture that owns the 185-mile Fayetteville Express pipeline. The major customers on its interstate pipelines include Chesapeake Energy Marketing, Inc., EnCana Marketing (USA), Inc. (EnCana), Shell Energy North America (US), L.P. and Pacific Summit Energy LLC.

Midstream Segment

Through the Company�� midstream segment, it owns and operates approximately 6,700 miles of in service natur! al gas ga! thering pipelines, two natural gas processing plants, 15 natural gas treating facilities and 15 natural gas conditioning facilities. Its midstream segment focuses on the gathering, compression, treating, blending, processing and marketing of natural gas, and its operations are concentrated in major producing basins and shales, including the Austin Chalk trend and Eagle Ford Shale in South and Southeast Texas, the Permian Basin in West Texas and New Mexico, the Barnett Shale in North Texas, the Bossier Sands in East Texas, the Uinta and Piceance Basins in Utah and Colorado, the Marcellus Shale in West Virginia, and the Haynesville Shale in East Texas and Louisiana. It markets natural gas on its pipeline systems in addition to other pipeline systems. The major customers on its midstream pipelines include Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (Enterprise) and Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LP.

Natural Gas Liquid (NGL) Transportation and Services Segment

NGL transportation pipelines transport mixed NGLs and other hydrocarbons from natural gas processing facilities to fractionation plants and storage facilities. NGL storage facilities are used for the storage of mixed NGLs, NGL products and petrochemical products owned by third-parties in storage tanks and underground wells, which allow for the injection and withdrawal of such products at various times of the year to meet demand cycles. NGL fractionators separate mixed NGL streams into purity products, such as ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutane and natural gasoline.

Through its NGL transportation and services segment it own and operate approximately 300 miles of NGL pipelines and have a 50% interest in the Liberty pipeline, an approximately 85-mile NGL pipeline. It also have a 70% interest in Lone Star, which owns approximately 2,000 miles of NGL pipelines, three NGL processing plants, two fractionation facilities and NGL storage facilities with aggregate working storage capacity of approximately 47 million Bbls.

!

Re! tail Marketing Segment

The Company�� retail marketing and wholesale distribution business segment consists of Sunoco's marketing operations, which sell gasoline and middle distillates at retail and operates convenience stores in 25 states, primarily on the east coast and in the midwest region of the United States. The highest concentrations of outlets are located in Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

All Other

ETP owns 100% of the membership interests of Energy Transfer Group, L.L.C. (ETG), which owns all of the partnership interests of Energy Transfer Technologies, Ltd. (ETT). ETT provides compression services to customers engaged in the transportation of natural gas, including its other segments. The Company also owns all of the outstanding equity interests of a natural gas compression equipment business with operations in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Matt DiLallo]

    While it might not seem like much of an increase, this is an important first step. Slow and steady distribution increases have a very�noticeable�impact on the value of the underlying units. Just take a look at this chart of two midstream giants:�Enterprise Products Partners (NYSE: EPD  ) and Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE: ETP  ) :

  • [By Brian Pacampara]

    Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, natural gas transporter Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE: ETP  ) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

  • [By Aimee Duffy]

    Winners
    Given the current state of U.S. energy production, most midstream companies are winners these days. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (NYSE: KMP  ) got things started off on the right foot, reporting in mid-April and beating expectations on revenue and EPS. Here are some highlights from around the industry:

    Buckeye Partners (NYSE: BPL  ) �trounced analyst expectations on the top and bottom lines, and recorded a distribution coverage ratio of 1.21 times payouts, allowing the partnership to boost its distribution. DCP Midstream Partners' (NYSE: DCP  ) �distributable cash flow popped 40% year over year, and the partnership completed its Eagle Ford dropdown transaction with parent company DCP Midstream, boosting its stake in the lucrative South Texas shale play. Boardwalk Energy Partners' (NYSE: BWP  ) �operating revenue and net income increased 5% and 10% year over year. More importantly, distributable cash flow popped 24%, though the partnership elected to hold the distribution flat quarter over quarter. Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE: ETP  ) �had no distribution increase either, but things are looking better than they have in a while. Production in the Eagle Ford Shale is driving growth at ETP, and the partnership is reorganizing into an operation that is stronger and more diverse than ever before.

    Very strong results here, now let's take a look at some midstream companies that didn't perform as well.

  • [By Aimee Duffy]

    The other observation to note about these three MLPs is that two of them have, or initially had, parent companies driving supply. HollyFrontier and Sunoco, which is now owned by Energy Transfer Partners (NYSE: ETP  ) , provided reliable business for both Holly Energy Partners and Sunoco Logistics, forming a strong foundation for equally reliable distributions to unit holders. Energy Transfer Partners, for the record, has a 7% yield and a quarterly distribution increase streak of zero.

Top Safest Companies For 2014: diaDexus, Inc. (DDXS)

diaDexus, Inc. (diaDexus), incorporated on November 27, 1995, is a medical diagnostics company. The Company is focused on the development and commercialization of in vitro diagnostic products addressing unmet needs in cardiovascular disease. diaDexus�� product, the PLAC Test, helps identify individuals suffering a heart attack or stroke, the #1 and #3 causes of death, respectively in the United States. The PLAC Test measures Lp-PLA2, which is a vascular-specific inflammatory marker implicated in the formation of rupture-prone plaque.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has developed an Lp-PLA2 inhibitor (darapladib) and is testing the drug in two large, global, Phase III clinical trials involving over 27,000 patients to determine if inhibition of the enzyme reduces cardiovascular events. The PLAC Test is a blood test, available nationally through clinical reference, hospital, and advanced cardiovascular diagnostic laboratories.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Peter Graham]

    Small cap stocks Pulse Network Inc (OTCBB: TPNI), Sterling Consolidated Corp (OTCBB: STCC) and diaDexus, Inc (OTCMKTS: DDXS) have or could start to sizzle for investors. However, I should also mention that two of these stocks have been the subject of paid promotions while a third apparently has not been, and could be the real deal. With that in mind, here is a closer look along with a quick reality check about all three small caps to help you decide whether they are hot or not:

  • [By Peter Graham]

    Small cap medical device or biotech related stocks Therapeutic Solutions International Inc (OTCMKTS: TSOI), diaDexus, Inc (OTCMKTS: DDXS) and Spherix Inc (NASDAQ: SPEX) have been getting some attention lately in various investment newsletters with the good news being that it appears none are the subject of paid promotions from stock promoters. So why are these three stocks all of a sudden getting some attention and what else do you need to know about them before you make a short or a long term bet on one? Here is a closer look at the whole picture and what you might be missing:

Top Safest Companies For 2014: Lee Enterprises Incorporated (LEE)

Lee Enterprises, Incorporated provides local news, information, and advertising services primarily in midsize or small markets in the United States. The company publishes 50 daily and 39 Sunday newspapers, 300 weekly newspapers and classified, and niche publications in 22 states; and provides retail, classified, digital, and national advertising services. It also provides digital infrastructure and digital publishing services for approximately 1,500 daily and weekly newspapers and shoppers. The company was founded in 1890 and is based in Davenport, Iowa.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Mike Arnold]

    I look at Glacier as one part Lee Enterprises (LEE) (community newspapers), one part Daily Journal Corp. (DJCO) (business/trade publications) with a splash of web start up. If Glacier were a drink, it would make for a delectable cocktail. Instead, its shares make for compelling investment aperitif at current prices.

  • [By Roberto Pedone]

    Another newspaper publishing player that looks ready to trigger a major breakout trade is Lee Enterprises (LEE), which is a provider of local news and information and a platform for advertising, in primarily midsize markets. This stock has been on fire so far in 2013, with shares up big by 154%.

    >>Hack Earnings Season With These Serial Surprisers

    If you take a look at the chart for Lee Enterprises, you'll notice that this stock is just starting to spike higher back above its 50-day moving average of $2.89 a share with strong upside volume. Volume already today has registered over 360,000 shares, which is quickly approaching its three-month average action of 399,735 shares. This move is quickly pushing shares of LEE within range of triggering a major breakout trade.

    Traders should now look for long-biased trades in LEE if it manages to break out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $3.14 a share to its 52-week high at $3.20 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 399,735 shares. If that breakout hits soon, then LEE will set up to enter new 52-week-high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that breakout are $4 to $5 a share.

    Traders can look to buy LEE off any weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support levels at $2.71 or at $2.60 a share. One could also buy LEE off strength once it takes out those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.

Top Safest Companies For 2014: Renasant Corporation(RNST)

Renasant Corporation operates as the bank holding company for the Renasant Bank that provides various financial and insurance services to retail and commercial customers. The company offers checking accounts, money market accounts, savings accounts, certificates of deposit, time deposits, individual retirement accounts, and health savings accounts. It also provides commercial, financial, and agricultural loans; construction loans, including loans for the construction of single family residential properties, multi-family properties, and commercial projects; residential mortgage loans; home equity loans or lines of credit; consumer loans; and equipment leasing, as well as safe deposit and night depository facilities. In addition, the company offers various fiduciary services; and administers qualified retirement plans, profit sharing and other employee benefit plans, personal trusts, and estates. Further, the company provides annuities, mutual funds, and other investment ser vices through a third party broker-dealer. Additionally, the company offers commercial and personal insurance products through carriers. As of October 21, 2011, it operated approximately 75 banking, mortgage, financial services, and insurance offices in Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. The company was founded in 1904 and is based in Tupelo, Mississippi.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Monica Gerson]

    Renasant (NASDAQ: RNST) is expected to post its Q3 earnings at $0.31 per share on revenue of $60.87 million.

    Posted-In: Earnings scheduleEarnings News Pre-Market Outlook Markets

  • [By Rich Duprey]

    Financial services specialist�Renasant� (NASDAQ: RNST  ) �announced yesterday�its second-quarter dividend of $0.17 per share, the same rate it's paid since 2007.

Top Safest Companies For 2014: Chindex International Inc.(CHDX)

Chindex International, Inc. engages in the provision of healthcare services; and sale of medical equipment, instrumentation, and products. The company operates in two segments, Healthcare Services and Medical Products. The Healthcare Services segment owns and operates the United Family Healthcare network of private hospitals and clinics in the Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou markets. This segment also operates a managed clinic in the city of Wuxi, south of Shanghai. It offers a range of family healthcare services, including 24/7 emergency rooms, intensive care units, and neonatal intensive care units, operating rooms, clinical laboratory, radiology, and blood banking services for men, women, and children. The Medical Products segment markets, distributes, and sells medical capital equipment, instrumentation, and other medical products for use in hospitals in China and Hong Kong. It offers diagnostic color ultrasound imaging devices, robotic surgical systems and instrument ation, mammography and breast biopsy devices, and lasers for cosmetic surgery. This segment sells its products through its direct sales force. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in Bethesda, Maryland.

Advisors' Opinion:
  • [By Anna Prior]

    Among the companies with shares expected to actively trade in Monday’s session are Citigroup Inc.(C), JA Solar Holdings(JASO) Co and Chindex International Inc.(CHDX)

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